


Fire

by AutisticWriter



Series: 100 Prompt Challenge [76]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Crying, Death, Dissociation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Holding Hands, Prompt Fill, Serial: s054 Inferno, Trauma, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 12:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11417787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: The Doctor is struggling to cope after the events of ‘Inferno’. Luckily, Liz wants to help.[Prompt 76 – Fire]





	Fire

When Liz enters the Doctor’s lab, she finds him hunched forwards awkwardly, studying something.

“Doctor?” she says, but he doesn’t respond. “Doctor, would you like a cup of coffee?”

Liz walks closer. From this angle, she notices that the Doctor isn’t actually looking at the equipment on his desk. Instead, he is just staring into space.

“Doctor?” she says again, moving closer still. Now at his side, Liz sees his eyes are unfocused. “Doctor?”

She puts the tray down on the desk, clattering it more than usual in an attempt to get his attention. When that doesn’t work, she gives his shoulder a shake. “Doctor!”

The Doctor jumps, turning to look at her so sharply he almost falls off his stool. In the couple of seconds before he composes himself, a mixture of confusion and fear are written across his face. But then he smiles, inhaling a shaky breath as his fingers fumble with the cuff of his shirt.

“Hello, Liz,” he says.

“What was that about?” Liz says, puzzled.

The Doctor smiles weakly. “That just happens sometimes. I space out, dissociate.”

“Has that always been an issue for you?”

“Not really. Not since... the other Earth.”

Now she understands. The Doctor clearly isn’t coping with his experience in the parallel universe as well as he’s been letting on.

“Would you like to tell me about it?” Liz asks.

She sits beside the Doctor, and is a bit shocked when the Doctor takes her hand.

“It was horrible, Liz,” he says, his voice thickening. “They all died. Everyone on Earth. And I couldn’t save them.”

He blinks, and a tear runs down his face.

And Liz just sits with him, letting him tell her everything and hoping her support might help the Doctor deal with what he has been through.


End file.
